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To: Modernman; realpatriot71
Since there has not been any contact this leads to the reasonable conclusion that we are (1) either alone or (2) ahead of the rest of the universe. ~ realpatriot71

Or: (3) there are advanced races out there that know we exist, but have no interest in talking to us. ~ Modernman

Or: (4) planets are very bad places, they have diseases, nasty natives, a deep gravity well, and poisonous atmospheres as often as not. Stick to the asteroids, they're sterile, easy to get to, easy to leave, and have all the resources you really need...

177 posted on 02/11/2004 3:12:05 PM PST by null and void (Yes on SB 1160 = No on your re-election)
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To: null and void
Or: (4) planets are very bad places, they have diseases, nasty natives, a deep gravity well, and poisonous atmospheres as often as not. Stick to the asteroids, they're sterile, easy to get to, easy to leave, and have all the resources you really need...

Sure a race or two may "feel" this way, but it ridculous to assume we don't see evidence for intelligent life, objectively, because every intelligent species likes the "asteroids".

181 posted on 02/11/2004 3:16:16 PM PST by realpatriot71 (It's time to build a freakin' wall!)
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To: null and void
Or: (4) planets are very bad places, they have diseases, nasty natives, a deep gravity well, and poisonous atmospheres as often as not. Stick to the asteroids, they're sterile, easy to get to, easy to leave, and have all the resources you really need...

Unless the aliens are genocidal xenophobes, there would be no reason for an advanced species to contact us. I'd postulate that for a species to survive to a point where they can master space travel, perhaps FTL, they need to develop some sort of moral/ethical code that will prevent them from wiping themselves out. We came pretty close, as a species, to wiping ourselves out through nuclear war. If we'd been, say, 10% more aggresive as a species, the Earth might very well be a nuclear wasteland right now.

So, unless the alien species is genocidal towards other species, their only interest towards us would be to study us, much like we study chimps or gorillas. I'm not aware of any special properties our planet has, so I doubt they'd be interested in our resources. Imperialism or slave labor? (like in Battlefield Earth) Highly doubtful that an advanced, space-faring race would have any interest in that- they can obtain all the resources they need by mining asteroids and such with robots.

The only other interest they might have in us would be as some type of culinary delicacy. However, if that was the case, it would be much simpler for them to abduct members of our species covertly and establish a human livestock breeding program on their home planet.

298 posted on 02/12/2004 7:03:13 AM PST by Modernman ("When you want to fool the world, tell the truth." -Otto von Bismarck)
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